CFD Simulations of Cap-Bubbly Two-Phase Flows Using Two-Group Interfacial Area Transport Equation

Knowledge of cap-bubbly flows is of great interest due to its role in understanding of flow regime transition from bubbly to slug or churn-turbulent flow. One of the key characteristics of such flows is the existence of bubbles in different sizes and shapes associated with their distinctive dynamic natures. This important feature is, however, generally not well captured by available two-phase flow models. In view of this, a modified two-fluid model, namely a three-field two-fluid model, is proposed. In this model, bubbles are categorized into two groups, i.e., spherical/distorted bubbles as Group-1 while cap/churn-turbulent bubbles as Group-2. A two-group interfacial area transport equation (IATE) is implemented to describe the dynamic changes of interfacial structure in each group, resulting from intra- and inter-group interactions and phase changes due to evaporation and condensation. Attention is also paid to the appropriate constitutive relations of the interfacial transfers due to mechanical and thermal non-equilibrium between different fields. The proposed three-field two-fluid model is used to predict the phase distributions of adiabatic air-water flows in a narrow rectangular duct. Good agreement between the simulation results from the proposed model and relevant experimental data indicates that the proposed model may be used as a reliable computational tool for two-phase flow simulations in narrow rectangular flow geometry.